If you feel like you’ve seen this pebble mosaic bathroom floor tile before, it could be because you read the story — 1,000’s of square feet of vintage mosaic tile — great prices that we featured over the course of several days back in March. Reader Tex saw that stockpile of NOS tile mosaic as the perfect catalyst to start their retro modern bath remodel — and I don’t blame ’em. Look at that gorgeous floor!
Tex writes:
Good morning, Pam!
A couple of notes about this project:
This is the master bathroom in our 1950’s home in Tulsa, Ok. It was previously remodeled, I’m guessing in the 1980’s, with white tile. White tile floor, white tile shower, white vanity, white, white, white! The medicine cabinet was a monstrous three-door mirrored disaster, with built-in Hollywood lights. I re-purposed a vintage chest of drawers for the vanity and of course, you know where I bought the tile. The seller cut me a break on the price because I bought 40 SF of it. It was quite a job for such a tiny room, with lots of OMG WHY DID THEY *DO THAT??*
I love your site- learn new things all the time! I’ve been collecting MCM since 1982.
Have a great day!
Great job Tex! Those NOS mosaic tiles are the focal point of the whole bathroom. I love how you pulled the orange out and used that in the vanity and the accents — it makes the vintage tile feel very modern. I’m also digging that you used grey grout — which works well with the tiles and must be much easier to keep looking clean.
I bet Tex smiles every time they walk into their new bathroom. Instead of white, white, white the bathroom is filled with a confetti of color.
See our other stories with readers who bought this NOS mosaic tile:
- Pam’s bizarro twin used the NOS tile as a kitchen backsplash
- Julia made a decorative table top with the NOS mosaic tile
Readers — did you buy and use this NOS tile mosaic for a project at your house? If so, we’d love to see — send your photos and stories to retrorenovationkate@gmail.com.
Nancy completes her yellow 50s bathroom 
26 great photos of Ted and Stella’s dreamy retro ranch house — with an appliance museum in the basement 
Nanette and Jim’s vintage blue bathroom — built new from scratch 
Video: Kate’s “penultimate” pink bathroom tour 
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I am so jealous! LOVE it!
I love that! I had a hard time making up my mind which of the tile selections to choose.
I am sending some pix of my new kitchen backsplash with the ones I did pick.
I’m back, re-inspecting this beautiful place, and I am just now realizing that the orange dresser is the vanity with the sink on top! Awesome looking it is, and that towel looks like it was made to match the tile!
Wow! Great job. I don’t even like orange that much, but I like this bathroom. The floor is awesome.
It’s quite a different color combo, but it all works beautifully! So cool!! I know, Elaine, I missed the sink at first, too, and when I went back and looked I thought-WOW!! Nice job, Tex!! 🙂
I too missed the sink and had to go back to figure that out! Brilliant idea and absolutely stunning!
Absolutely beautiful! Love, love, love the tile, and all the touches of orange (which just so happens to be my favorite color). Great job!
Absolutely gorgeous! I also missed the sink. Wonderful space planning and the tile and the colors are just spot-on.
And I’d *love* to know what that color of gray on the walls is. Thanks!
Love it, fun and retro but still contemporary feeling. Great use of the dresser/sink it maximizes the counter space and somehow makes it feel less “bathroom-y” somehow.
One word: Gorgeous.
Takes my breath away! The way the modern orange accessories/pieces have been incorporated with that gorgeous mosaic tile…just spectacular!
Fantastic! I love the combination of bold color and clean lines.
Your color combo is very popular here in Corvallis…orange and black are Oregon State’s colors (go Beavs!)
I love it, too. I bought 15 sq ft. of the same mosaic tile in March in the colors of moss green, aqua and white version. I haven’t decided what to do with it yet except take a photo of it and use it as my background on my iphone!
And yes, I too, had to look back for the sink. 🙂
Bought the same tile from ebay. So inspired by your bath! Ours is about the same size as yours. Great use of space and such a perfect palette. Thank you for sharing and helping envision our next steps!
As one who just renovated a 1959 pinky-brown and pink bathroom (whoa there, we DID live with it for 31 years!) and went “white, white white” (with some cute black mixed in) — may I applaud your daring; adorable bathroom remodel. My fave color = orange and I think you did a wonderful job! I LOVE it!
Thanks for all the positive comments!
Your bathroom looks fabulous!
My husband and I recently bought a gorgeous, mostly original MCM home. Our kitchen range hood is covered in what appears to be this same tile! You can see it here:
http://www.houzz.com/discussions/121318/Kitchen—should-we-paint-the-cabinets
Wow! LOVE IT!
MCM= Mid Century Modern? I’m still new to this whole retro remodel world, so still learning the lingo :o). I love this bathroom!
Karen
Welcome! Yes, MCM = Mid century modern. But we also talk the Mid century modest here, too. See the manifesto: https://retrorenovation.com/mid-century-modest-manifesto/
I am looking for some of this Vintage pebble floor tile in black, grey and orange. Does any one know where to get it?
i really want to find this… Any help??
It was purchased vintage from an ebay seller that I spotted and wrote about. At one time we also had World of Tile (now liquidated). Subscribe to my newsletter and never miss a story….https://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001YGdOlKiw_lVaSCuktfLLPqm_rlBgngGBEqhQC0f-s0I3KRrWzgCLSjdTlKmcU2Dkq7oG1TP1nLM13Kepkb0ZOtOk2i-Vz5p90PNy9HfCOLjLFeYStjL50G-Kgj7E5L6U0Ysp20tbzpWoa4Wwv4CC5AhKtjACVxk8QosMKCS02spK1rZ3LeNE4lttyvb6rNwC